


A Piston Peak Christmas

by ShuTodoroki



Series: Christmas Shenanigans [2]
Category: Cars (Pixar Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Slice of Life, So Nick's alive, Takes place after "Alive", Ties in with "A Propwash Junction Christmas"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27915931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShuTodoroki/pseuds/ShuTodoroki
Summary: Although it's a lot of hard work, putting up Christmas lights and the tree are rewarding in the end. Everyone works together at Piston Peak to make it a festive Christmas given what they have, except for Cabbie, Windlifter, and Lil' Dipper, who are doing something else in the main hangar...
Series: Christmas Shenanigans [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2041825
Kudos: 4





	A Piston Peak Christmas

It was a cold December day at Piston Peak, the treetops and ground covered in snow. 

Maru grumbled in his hangar. Why were Christmas lights so hard to untangle? He tried maneuvering the line of lights with his forklift arms, but he always found more knots. _Whoever put these back last time did a horrible job…_ He thought.

The Smokejumpers were working on another line from a box in his hangar, and were probably not having any more luck than he was. Couldn't hurt to ask though, right? 

"Dynamite, how's it going on your end?" The forklift asked.

"We're getting there. Just got the first line pretty much untangled. Drip, test that line." 

"Got it!" Drip went to plug in the lights. About a quarter of the line was dead. Not bad, for being ten years old. 

Maru looked over at the mostly good lights. "That'll do."

"Just gotta tie up the part that's dead." Pinecone remarked.

"SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN!" Avalanche agreed. 

"Then we gotta look for zip ties. Blackout, find some zip ties in the main hangar." Dynamite told Blackout.

"Copy that!" Blackout replied, heading off to the main hangar. 

"Aha!" Maru exclaimed, just as he got the last knot undone. "Perfect! Test this one too, Drip. And put the one that's good off to the side, so we know that it's good." 

Drip unplugged the good strand, and plugged Maru's strand of lights into the wall socket. Only about half of them lit up. Of course, Christmas lights weren't the priority under Cad when they didn't even have up to date firefighting equipment, so they were all quite old.

"HALF OF IT'S DEAD!" Avalanche reported.

"Argh…we'll probably only be able to do the main hangar this time around." Maru figured.

"What about a Christmas tree?" Pinecone asked.

"We'll have to pick a random tree surrounding the base. Ain't got a Christmas tree yet. Maybe we can ask Jammer to give us the budget for one next year." Dynamite suggested. 

Blackout came back from the main hangar, looking confused. "Uh…what was I supposed to be looking for again?" 

"Zip ties, Blackout, zip ties. Avalanche, go help him." Dynamite ordered.

"COPY THAT!" The two headed off to go search for zip ties in the main hangar.

At that moment, Blade and Nick came back from scouting for spot fires. Scouting had become less frequent, since snow had already started falling at a rate that there was decent seasonal snow cover, which automatically prevented wildfires from occurring. 

"No spot fires, a lot of snow." Nick reported. "Cold, too. Mind if we join you in here?" Maru had a space heater going in his hangar, to keep them warm while they untangled and tested lights in preparation for putting them up. 

"Sure, provided that you're willing to help. Go get the scissor lift. I'll need it for stringing up the lights on the main hangar." Maru answered.

"Copy that!" Nick went off to go fetch the scissor lift from the main hangar, as Blade looked at the rest of the lights that they had. "Only four strands of lights, huh?" 

"Yep. Two for the main hangar, two for the tree. We'll make it work." Dynamite said.

Blade sighed. “We’ll get an actual commercial Christmas tree next year, and ornaments.”

“Hey, it’s the heart that goes into it, right?” Maru pointed out, as he finished untangling the second strand of lights for the main hangar. 

“Got the second strand untangled.” Pinecone reported.

“That makes all of them. Drip, you know what to do.” Dynamite said. 

Drip moved to plug both strands into the two wall sockets. Same situation. Both of them had a quarter dead. Well, they'd make do like they always did. "Is that enough?" He asked.

“Should be. If it’s not, tough luck.” Maru chuckled.

“We’ll just need a lot of zip ties to try and hide the dead sections when we put ‘em up.” Dynamite mused. 

“WE FOUND THEM!” Avalanche yelled, as he came back with a box of zip ties they found, Nick and Blackout following.

Nick was pushing the folded up scissor lift from the main hangar behind them. “This is it, right?” He asked Maru.

“Yep!” Maru replied. “Now we can get to the good stuff. Putting the lights up.”

“Hm. We shouldn’t need an extension cord, since the plug outside the main hangar is close enough to the doors.” Blade thought aloud.

“If we do, we probably have one stashed somewhere in the main hangar, anyway.” Dynamite said.

Maru took a roll of tape from his hangar, because they’d need it to connect the two strands of lights they’d use, also to tape the lights to the hangar itself. They headed outside, and he got to work as he rolled into the scissor lift platform. “Someone hold up the lights.”

“I GOT IT!” Avalanche said, holding up the first string so that it wouldn’t get tangled or damaged as it dragged across the floor.

“Should we get started on finding a Christmas tree?” Nick asked, looking around. They had to find one that was short enough so they could reach the top without a lift. 

“Yeah, you guys do that.” Maru replied before he realized something. “Actually, someone’s gotta stay to move the lift when I get to the top of the hangar door.” 

“I’ll stay. Y’all better find one that doesn’t look half dead like our lights.” Dynamite said.

Nick chuckled. “We’ll try.” 

They didn’t end up having to travel far, as they found a pretty short tree between Maru’s hangar and the main hangar. Maybe even a little too short. However, considering that they were stuck with two strings of half-dead lights, it probably wasn’t. 

“That one looks good.” Blade stated. 

“Indeed. We’ll need an extension cord for that one, though. The back socket on Maru’s hangar is too far away.” Blackout pointed out.

Blade nodded. “You’re right. We should leave the lights here to remember this tree, then we’ll get an extension cord from Maru.” 

They headed back to where Maru was, who had just finished the left vertical section of the hangar door. He turned around when he heard them coming. “You guys found a suitable tree to use as the Christmas tree?” 

“Yep! We just need an extension cord. Blackout pointed out that the socket at the back of your hangar is too far away for the lights to reach it.” Nick explained.

“I did?” Blackout asked.

“Cool, I got one in the hangar. No problem. Should be on one of the tables in there. Let me know if you need help finding it.” Maru replied, as he tied a dead section together using one of the zip ties. 

Nick took a peek in Maru’s hangar. There were too many things on the various tables in there for him to distinguish an extension cord. Yeah, he’d need help, but Maru was busy with the lights. “Blade? A little help?”

Blade headed over to where Nick was, inside Maru’s hangar. “You can’t find it?”

“Nope.” Nick replied, gesturing at the various tables with a skid. 

Blade sighed. Right. Maru’s hangar was always a little bit of a mess. He scanned the tables for what looked like an extension cord. He approached each one, and eventually found an extension cord. “That’s it.”

Nick took the extension cord, and rested it between his skids for transport. He also spotted another roll of tape, and decided that it'd be a good idea to take that as well, since they'd probably need it at some point while stringing up the lights on the Christmas tree. They headed back to the main hangar, where everyone else was. "Extension cord acquired!" 

"Great. Once we decorate the tree we can plug it in!" Drip exclaimed.

"YAY! WE GOT A QUARTER OF THE MAIN HANGAR DONE AS WELL!" Avalanche cheered.

"Well, we'd better get started, so we don't finish too late after Maru, Avalanche, and Dynamite." Blade advised.

They headed off to start the process of stringing the lights up on the "Christmas tree." Pinecone held the lights up while Drip strung them up; it took them only 15 minutes to put up the two strands. Then came the star. 

"I can't reach up there." Nick stated with a light chuckle. 

"This is where my jumping stunts come in!" Drip jumped, holding onto the star in his claw, and letting it go when he reached the top. It actually worked, and the star stayed at the top as it caught on a vertical facing branch. 

"Nice job, Drip." Blade commended.

"I'll plug them in!" Blackout said, attaching the extension cord and plugging it into the socket. The tree lit up, looking quite nice. 

Pinecone smiled. "That work was worth it." 

"It was. Nick, you still have that tape?" Blade asked.

"Yep! It's on the ground over there." Nick gestured to it with one of his skids.

"Great." Blade secured the extension wire to the ground, so that it wouldn't become a tripping hazard. "A job well done. Let's see if Maru and the others are done with the main hangar."

They headed back to the main hangar, where Maru, Avalanche, and Dynamite looked pretty proud at their handiwork. "Guess they're done." Nick remarked.

Lights lined the perimeter of the hangar door, and the aforementioned dead sections were barely visible. "Already feels like Christmas, eh?" Maru said.

Avalanche nodded. "YEAH! HARD WORK, BUT YOU GET TO ENJOY THE LIGHTS FOR ALL OF DECEMBER!"

At that moment, the main hangar door opened, and Cabbie, Windlifter, and Lil' Dipper emerged. Literally everyone stared at them, not knowing that they were in there.

"Oh, are we putting up the Christmas lights? Fun!" Dipper exclaimed.

"You missed it." Maru said with a deadpan expression.

"Wow, when'd you guys go in there? We didn't see you." Nick asked.

"Uh…30 minutes ago?" Cabbie answered.

"Must've been when Nick, Avalanche, and Blackout came back after fetching equipment from the main hangar." Blade surmised. 

"The soundproofing we added must really work. Didn't even hear you guys, whatever you were doing in there, while we were decorating." Maru remarked.

"We were watching Howard the Truck." Windlifter explained, expressionless.

Almost everybody knew that they were not, in fact, watching Howard the Truck, besides Blade and Nick. 

Nick laughed. "I should do that next time it's 'put up Christmas lights' day. Hide in a hangar." 

"Hey! We didn't do it on purpose!" Dipper told Nick. 

"Riiight." Nick smirked. 

"When it's time to take them down, I expect you three to help." Blade stated.

"Of course we'll help." Cabbie replied.

"Good that's done, but back to work, folks!" Maru headed back to his hangar, and everyone started to disperse. 

"I wonder how Dusty's doing in Propwash." Nick thought aloud, as he and Blade headed back to their hangar. 

"We can radio him and see if he picks up." Blade suggested. 

"Yeah, let's do that." Nick replied. 

They entered their hangar, and experimentally radioed Dusty, waiting for him to pick up.


End file.
